The PS4 Version of Final Fantasy XIV Will Run at 60 FPS, 1080p, Equivalent to Highest PC Settings

On February the 22nd 2014 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will enter its beta testing phase on PS4 (and those that already bought the PS3 version will get the PS4 version for free), but how will it run and how good will it really look? According to Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida, it’ll run really well and look great, as he shared today in an interview on Game Watch.

Yoshida-san explained that the PS4 version of the game will have a visual fidelity equivalent to the current highest PC setting, and that it’ll run in 1080p resolution at 60 fps, unlike the PS3 version that is limited to 720p and 30 fps. It will also display the same number of characters on screen as the PC version.

It’s worth mentioning that he didn’t mention if the PS4 version will run at 60 FPS stably or will just get there when there isn’t much crowd. A stable 60 FPS framerate would be a quite amazing feat, considering that at the moment you need a rather beefy PC to keep the framerate locked there in the most crowded situations.

That said, he clarified that a DirectX 11 version of the PC client is currently in development, and while the PS4 version will use some of the new DirectX 11 features, it won’t use them all.

In addition to that, he also stated that, since there’s memory to spare, the option to use keyboard and mouse with the PS4 version will be implemented. You can already use them in the PS3 version, but the keyboard and mouse UI isn’t implemented due to memory limitations, making them almost useless. The touch pad of the DualShock 4 has also been already tested to be used for targeting.

Talking about the PS4 beta test Yoshida-san said that it’ll happen on separate servers from the live servers currently used for PS3 and PC, as the team cannot afford to disturb the current players if critical bugs were to occur. The test will happen in stages and players will initially begin with new characters, and then they’ll be given access to their old PS3 characters.

The estimated duration for the PS4 beta test is about a month. If everything goes well, data from the third week onward will carry over to the live servers.

Join the Discussion

can’t wait the ps3 version was looking a bit weak to me compared to my old pc.

LogicIncarnate

Why can’t we have a Wii U version?

Giuseppe Nelva

Probably because they don’t want it to directly compete with Dragon Quest X on consoles. Also, very different architecture and a less power than PS4.

PS4 is basically a PC with a lighter operating system, which means that porting to it is fast and relatively inexpensive. Porting to Wii U would require downgrading the game and reworking the engine heavily. Considering that the Wii U doesn’t exactly have a stellar installed base, they probably just don’t think it’s worth it to do put money and effort into a port that would compete with their own other game for users.

LogicIncarnate

Dragon Quest X doesn’t even exist outside of Japan so thats rather unfair to the rest of the world any which way you put it.

Giuseppe Nelva

They already said they plan to localize Dragon Quest X.

Mind you, not porting a game on a console has really nothing to do with unfairness. It has to do with money/opportunity/convenience.

LogicIncarnate

Somehow I seriously doubt it will ever come here and if it does it will be far to late for anyone to care. Its a nerfed down game that was made with the Wii in mind and upscaled to HD. Final Fantasy XIV has much higher production values and is a better game overall. In comparison Dragon Quest X looks like a cartoonish joke of a game with antiquated graphics.

I have XIV on PC but squares endless catering to playstation fanboys seems to know no end.

Giuseppe Nelva

You wouldn’t see FFXIV running with the same visual fidelity of the PC version on the Wii U anyway.

Square isn’t “catering to fanboys”. They’re simply doing what they consider more convenient for their business. Evidently porting to a console that would require more work and resources/money because of its lower power and different architecture, with a limited installed base that would mean limited sales, doesn’t fit in what they consider convenient business-wise.

It would be more convenient for them to port to Xbox One, considering the similar architecture, but they cannot as Microsoft doesn’t allow cross platform gameplay.

LogicIncarnate

PS3 is weaker than Wii U and they did it. Saying they “can’t” or “don’t want to” is nuts. The producer also said he wanted it on as many platforms as possible but I guess that was just a lie. He wanted it on as many playstation platforms as possible.

Giuseppe Nelva

They made it very explicit that the PS3 version has been developed because it was promised for the first FFXIV and never delivered. Otherwise it’s doubtful they would have bothered.

The Wii U has a very different architecture from the PS3, so they can’t simply port that one over.

As many platforms as possible means as many platforms as it’s profitable. Obviously they don’t think a Wii U version would be profitable, and it’s probably true.

You seem to think that having the game on the Wii U is some kind of right, and that developers are doing something somehow bad by not porting it. I fail to understand why that would be the case, to be honest. A Wii U version was never promised or even hinted at.

LogicIncarnate

You are quite wrong actually it was strongly hinted at in 2011 and 2012, almost winked at then all of sudden the idea vanished.

First article: Yoshinori Kitase is in no way involved with final Fantasy XIV, and in no way hints at porting FInal Fantasy XIV to the Wii U, he just talks generically about Final Fantasy and doesn’t make any kind of promise..

Second article: they said they “would love to” which doesn’t mean they can or that they will. They said that after releasing the PS3 version, they’d do other consoles, and they are. In fact they’re porting it to the PS4. That’s another console.

You’re misinterpreting quotes out of context to support something that never existed.

Bottomline: having the game on the Wii U is not a right. If it’s convenient and profitable, they will port it, if it’s not, they won’t. At the moment it seems it isn’t. That’s all there is to it.

LogicIncarnate

If you google the term “Final Fantasy Xiv Wii U” there are alot of threads, articles and other things on it. Its obvious there is interest that SE is overlooking.

Giuseppe Nelva

Actually no, just a scant few of these search results are about Final Fantasy XIV on the Wii U. The rest are results of the terms by themselves or completely unrelated.

I’m quite sure they have the tools to gauge interest on a possible port better than you or me with google 😀

LogicIncarnate

SE always makes bad decisions based on Japanese sales which have no impact globally.

Giuseppe Nelva

And I’m sure you think you know better.

LogicIncarnate

A monkey with lego blocks probably would, thats why the company is failing. They are investing in mobile games that no one cares about right now.

Giuseppe Nelva

Of course mate, of course 😀

LogicIncarnate

The president of Eidos recently quit his job because he said they were out of touch with reality.

Giuseppe Nelva

And yet Final Fantasy XIV is proving a success, despite the fact that basically no one believed in it. Maybe they aren’t the ones out of touch with reality.

LogicIncarnate

XIV A Realm Reborn was a success because they actually made the game good and copied many of the systems found in World of Warcraft. The original was a horrible mess developed in the confines of the Japanese gaming bubble and it flopped harder than a bass lose on the dock.

Giuseppe Nelva

“Copied many of the systems found in World of Warcraft.”

This statement is so ignorant that it hurts. XIV is a success because it’s a good game, in which a ton of resources, effort and man hours by a passionate team have been poured to make it right, with its own vision that has nothing to do with world of WoW, with which has very little in common besides a few staple elements of the genre, that Blizzard did not in any way invent.

Sorry mate, have a nice day shaking your angry fist at a developer because it doesn’t port its game to the platform you want.

LogicIncarnate

Naoki Yoshida played World of Warcarft for 1 year straight before making A Realm Reborn.

That quote was taken seriously out of context. What he is actually said is that knowing the competition is important when developing a product.

Naoki Yoshida also played Dark Age of Camelot (which is his favorite MMORPG), Everquest, Final Fantasy XI, Dragon Quest X (which he developed), and a ton of other MMORPGs. Doesn’t mean he copied from any of them.

LogicIncarnate

If you had actually played both you would understand.

Giuseppe Nelva

I did. As a matter of fact I played every single one of the MMORPGs I named above, and a ton of others.

Enough to understand that the only things FFXIV and WoW have in common are staples of the genre that most MMORPGs had and have since well before WoW.

Franklinboy

You guys are nuts.

End the topic now. The reason why it isn’t on the Wii U is because the Wii U (while it is newer than the PS3) is not strong enough to handle the processing (Not graphics) of this MMO. The Wii U also is missing the stream-speed GPU speeds mixed with the bus speeds.

Wii U is literally just as strong as 65% of the PS3. Check in depth specs instead of pretty numbers.

LogicIncarnate

It has a GPU two generations newer and 2x the ram. PS3 has a slight CPU advantage but it balances out in Wii U’s favor.

UncleSi

dang you really want to win an argument don’t you. XD

LogicIncarnate

Only a total idiot would make a statement like Wii U being weaker than PS3, it had to be corrected.

UncleSi

still trying to win arent you

Michael Norris

It’s not like the WiiU is so beyond Ps3…name one game that looks better then The Last of Us/God of war 3/Asension/Uncharted 2/3,Infamous 2/Beyond two souls….until the WiiU passes those games in the visual department i am on the fence that it is actually more powerful.Don’t forget, just because the Hardware is more powerful in theory doesn’t mean that it translate in real world.The memory setup”Slow DDR3” with edRAM” is sad…very sad.

LogicIncarnate

Compare Mass Effect 3 on Wii U to PS3.

Michael Norris

Well whats to say he wasn’t influenced by WoW.WoW was a great game pre Cata so it was very wise for him to play it.

StEvOo0

It’s simple. They would lose more money than they would gain by porting to the Wii U. The install base is simply not big enough.

Narutonhia

You’re a fool for saying that. It came out for the ps3 because the original ff14 was intended to come out for the ps3 but that game was a failure so it never was released for it. It only makes sense that the new version would also come out for the ps3. W3 all know why its not coming on xbox. And yes they could develop it fir the wii u if they really wanted but we dont know how difficult or how much time and resource they would need to do that. It coming out on the ps4 makes perfect sense too. It would be an easy port from the pc.

vicfermino

And I’m still playing Ragnarok Online because my PC can’t run it… come soon to the PS4, please!

clasifi1 .

I don’t understand why this is supposed to be “news” ?…Isn’t 1080p / 60fps supposed to be the norm for the majority of ps4 titles ? (or at least 720p 60fps)….

Giuseppe Nelva

Did you know?

No?

Then it’s news 😀

Jokes aside, no, there’s no firm rule for PS4 games to be 1080p/60 fps.

clasifi1 .

Oh that’s a shame…But why ? Is it because of the first cycle of the console’s life ?..

Giuseppe Nelva

it depends on the priority of the dev. AFAIK for Thief it’s because they wanted to focus the hardware resources on the physics engine instead.

Jochem

Why would you say 60fps and 1080p are the highest pc settings? A lot of gamers game in 1440p, a lot of gamers game in 120fps or even 144fps. A lot of gamers game on triple screens which gives them 3x 1080p… I don’t mind a small mistake every now and then, but this is a big one and to top it off it’s in the title. Not reading anymore on this website.

Giuseppe Nelva

With settings, Yoshida intends the actual quality settings like shadows, texture detail and so forth. Resolution is normally considered separate from those.

So no, it’s not a mistake, small or otherwise.

Mind you, what’s in the title and in the article is what Yoshida himself says. He’s the one talking about highest PC settings.

When you translate an interview you don’t change what a developer says according to what you personally think, and even less so according to what a cheeky commenter that thinks he knows better thinks.